New LB Wilson pushes out 2012 draft pick

Yes, one-third of the Raiders 2012 draft class no longer is on the roster. But, to be fair, coach Dennis Allen said, the Raiders didn’t make the first of their six selections until the tail end of the third round, when they used a compensatory selection on offensive lineman Tony Bergstrom.
Bergstrom, wide receiver Juron Criner, defensive end Jack Crawford and Burris still are on the roster. They outlasted defensive tackle Christo Bilukidi and linebacker Nathan Stupar, both of whom were waived — Stupar at the end of training camp last year and Bilukidi on Wednesday
Furthermore, Allen said, the Raiders bolstered their haul from last year with the signings of undrafted free agents Lucas Nix and Rod Streater, both of whom are starters right now.
As for what happened with Bilukidi, Allen simply said that Bilukidi wasn’t developing as well as the Raiders hoped and it made more sense to use the roster spot on linebacker Martez Wilson, who appears to have more potential to play a big role in the Raiders defense and special teams.
Wilson was claimed off waivers from the New Orleans Saints, and his arrival here coincided with the Raiders canning Bilukidi.
The Raiders got an extended look at what Bilukidi has to offer. Now it’s time to take a look at Wilson, Allen said.
“Big guy, athletic,” Allen said of what the Raiders liked about Wilson. “He can really run. He did some good things there with the Saints. He did some good things on special teams. He’s got some rush ability, and he’s a good guy as far as a coverage linebacker. We thought he was a guy that we wanted to get in here and take a look at and see what he can do.”
Allen and cornerback Tracy Porter have a pretty fair idea what Wilson can do, given they all were with the Saints in 2011, when Allen was the Saints defensive backs coach.
“Great signing,” Porter said. “A very versatile guy that can do a lot for us and fit right in with the defense. I’m excited about having him and the things that he brings to the defense and what he’s going to provide for us.”
Wilson said, on the one hand, it was disappointing that the Saints no longer wanted him, but, on the other hand, it’s nice that the Raiders wanted him so badly.
“It’s been great so far,” Wilson said. “The coaches seem very excited. The players have been very warm welcoming. From here, it’s just go on forward, they expect of me to execute and expecting me to do things they know I could do. I feel like they’ll allow me to do it and I continue to show them in practice. Man, I’m just excited and ready to ball out.”

— Allen said he doesn’t envision Wilson being able to help the Raiders this Sunday against the Steelers, simply because Wilson hasn’t been around the Raiders long enough to know the special teams and defensive schemes well enough.

— Allen is “hoping” that linebacker Miles Burris will be cleared to practice next week.
Burris is on the physically unable to perform list as he recovers from offseason knee surgery. Once he returns to practice, the Raiders have 21 days to decide whether to activate Burris to the 53-man roster, place him on season-ending injured reserve or release him.
The latter option doesn’t seem likely at all, given the way Allen and defensive coordinator Jason Tarver spoke of Burris.
“We’ve been trying to acquire as many players as we can, one, that love football and, two, that can be position flexible, set an edge in the run game, use your hands to get off of blocks, cover a back or a tight end when they need to,” Tarver said. “Miles showed last year that he can do a lot of those things, so he’s in the mix.”
If Burris keeps progressing, the Raiders soon could be blessed with their most linebacker depth in years: — Burris, Kevin Burnett, Sio Moore, Nick Roach, Kaluka Maiava, Wilson and, perhaps, one other.

— The Raiders and 49ers are tied for 31st (last) in the league in average passing yards per game at 191.7. That stat is somewhat misleading, of course, given the Raiders and 49ers are so adept at running the ball and they sport mobile quarterbacks that aren’t afraid to pull down the ball and take off running.

— Maiava (hamstring) returned to practice Thursday after missing one day. He was limited in practice today, which makes him questionable for Sunday’s game.

— Here’s offensive coordinator Greg Olson’s take on what to expect from wide receiver Jacoby Ford moving forward.
“He hadn’t been healthy,” Olson said. “About three weeks ago I started to see the explosive Jacoby that maybe some of you had seen. So we still continue to try and keep him involved in certain packages.”
Ford caught seven passes for 55 yards and rushed three times for 8 yards in Oakland’s first six games. He missed all of last season with a foot injury that required surgery.

— The 49ers and Seahawks, as well as other teams, are fond of signing players from other teams in hopes of gleaning insight into how to game plan against that player’s former team.
No telling if that’s why the Steelers signed former Raiders Richard Gordon and George Winn in recent weeks. Even if that’s the case, Allen doesn’t think there’s much to that line of thinking.
“We’ve got enough that we could throw enough at them,” Allen said. “Sometimes that’s a little overrated. I’m sure with certain guys there’s a lot of information that you could gather but I’m not really concerned with that.”

— Allen reiterated the stance he first trotted out after Sebastian Janikowski’s first missed field-goal attempt this season: Janikowski is fine and there’s nothing to get worked up about.
“He’s going to be fine,” Allen said. “Everybody goes through a little bit of a rough patch. He obviously has. With the expectations that we have of him, and we all have pretty high expectations, that every time he trots out there he’s going to kick it through the uprights.
“It’s just been a situation where he’s gotta be mentally strong. He’s gotta continue to battle through it, and he will. When you look up at the end of the year I think all of us will be pleased with the results that we’ve seen out of him.”
Janikowski missed four field-goal attempts in the Raiders firs six games. He missed only three all last season.

Steve Corkran

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The bottom line is, we don’t have to woorry so much about the o-line because of Tony Sparano. The guy has his niche and has done an admirable job coaching these players up in his first year on the job. I’m sure he’ll be able to work with Reggie to bring in the right kind of talent for the line next season.

The guy was given the title of Assistant HC. Reggie has to respect him enough to listen to his evaluation of talent and build depth.

Prometheus

next 4 games are against average/crap teams.. steelers, eagles, giants and texans. if OAK goes 1-3 or 0-4! TP will in deep poopoo

JOn Wooah

Raiders
Beat ‏@RaidersBeat
54m

Got what they needed –> @AsherMathews: The Steelers, who signed former #Raiders TE Richard Gordon 10 days ago, cut him today.

seymour bush

It is weak. Sounds like He didn’t want to play receiver for the home town team.

DutchRaid

We look pretty good on paper, or at least tackle wise. Cannot imagine a elite guard would be too hard to find in the draft or FA…

JOn Wooah

They also signed a RB raiders had on P.squad for 3 weeks to their team on mon

R8erEduc8er

Thats a new one

Papertiger

Exactly. Because it made sense to see what the kid had at the time, even though we both supported Palmer.

If you listen to the medical staff, you would have thought we were all like Mistic! That is definitely not the case.

http://www.cosmicdanceband.com/ SilverandBlack666

With a Fender P Bass sound!

R8erEduc8er

Didn’t want the hometown distractions….and it was a smart move for a young guy.

Prometheus

OAK should have drafted Eddie Lacey, i knew it. guy is a top 10 RB already and has been my RB1 and has been consistent.

seymour bush

The Squealors found out exactly what we found out. When they grilled Gordon on what plays we were running he couldn’t remember the plays.

http://www.cosmicdanceband.com/ SilverandBlack666

Then I apologize

DutchRaid

You guys actually had faith in Knapp to create and offense that played to Pryor’s strengths? I would envision that Knapp would have not even changed the offense and gotten Pryor killed…

Prometheus

??? weak.. chance of a lifetime UNLESS they didn’t want him as a QB

fingersrdrs

Lol… And Flatwound strings

Papertiger

Yeah, I think we just got struck by the injury bug along the line this year. Bad luck happens; we had issues like that with DBs a few seasons ago.

I just don’t want Charlie to cr@p his adult diaper because he thinks the organization doesn’t recognize the o-line as a priority. After all, Reggie drafted Bergs and brought in Brisiel strictly because the team was switching to the zone scheme. That alone shows us he understands how important the trenches are.

seymour bush

This has nothing to do with the Oline or the receivers or the running backs and tight ends. If Pryor is the answer, then Pryor has to command an offense, and make good decisions. That’s what Allen and Co, said before his very first start last year. If anything, Pryor is regressing a little in those respects.

NYCRaider

only difference was Flynn played scared and TP2 tried to do too much. big difference , TP2 will take on any challenge while Flynn has fumbled every challenge he had to handle. TP2 has a long way to go and should be given this season to develop.

DutchRaid

I blame Knapp on the Brisel signing, I just hate Knapp a little more in every passing day…well he is a donkey.

KoolKell

Terrelle Pryor, you’ve been warned by the Flynch Mob. Get better or it’s all McGloin, ok?

Prometheus

kill whitey!!! kill whitey!!!! cucamonga crackakillas sucka!

seymour bush

All joking aside, McGloin is not an NFL QB. But NFL does stand for Not For Long. If Pryor cannot start playing better, the Raiders will get someone else quickly. That you can guarantee.

Papertiger

Definitely. But it’s good to know that Reggie was responsive to Knapp, just as he’ll be responsive to Sparano.

Prometheus

flynn 1st start with the raiders and 3rd career start. jeebus christ man

R8erEduc8er

Lol I still think it was smart. Too many distractions for a young guy. The guy wasn’t a 28 year old mature male coming into the league. I have a feeling Pryor rolled with a posse of knuckleheads back home…his posse in Oakland is his WRs.

DutchRaid

Getting in and out of the huddle, but do you think he was trying to do a little too much against the Chiefs (throwing picks instead of throwing it away, making wise decisions, when the game is not on the line on every series?) Kinda what Alex Smith learned?

Prometheus

all those vote downs, nobody likes you sucka

NYCRaider

or maybe you can choose to ignore he lost the starting qb job the last 2 preseasons even though management of 2 different organizations brought him in to be the starter..selective memory is great

Prometheus

dude had injuries.. 3 career starts and written off, TP will get 15 starts this year and if he’s 4-11 he should be cut.. fair is fair

seymour bush

No. I think Terrelle Pryor panicked, and has no fundamentals to fall back on. Every player at this level has some sort of fundamental knowledge that got them here. Pryor really doesn’t. Pryor’s fundamentals are cutting and running, which as we all saw, won’t work much longer at this level. And that has been the one thing that I believe will be his downfall: that when things turn badly, and they will, he does not have the base to pull himself and the team out of it.

Papertiger

What a bunch of duplicitous whøres! I hope they at least let him play billiards and shuffleboard while he was there.

R8erEduc8er

-1

NYCRaider

He was hardly written off.. look at the contracts given to him. Yeah wasnt payton manning record 3-13 his first year. Bet Colt fans are happy your not their GM

R8erEduc8er

Quickly as in next year. TP has 10 games to prove himself. I have confidence in him and so does the team.

Sir Raider Duck, OMS

Everything OK? You seem a bit excitable today.

Papertiger

Washington Bravehearts? I was going to make a joke about this yesterday but decided against it.

flynn gets 1 start with OAK and get cut. so if TP starts 15 games and loses 11 of them he should be cut.. double standard.

Prometheus

just messing with the old sucka

Prometheus

Washington Armsdealers.

Sir Raider Duck, OMS

The Washington Cowboys (if only to watch Jerry Jones’ head explode)

NYCRaider

Difference possibly is the TP2 has potential and Flynn does not. football is a team game and many factors influence w-l and QB rating. Its up to management to evaluate who has potential and who doesnt. No one wanted Flynn to succeed more than RM. But RM realized Flynn was a mistake. We will see what he does with TP2. Since TP2 is 2-3 , i doubt he goes 4-11 anyway

raiderfanmikep

Washington Pigskins

The_Civilian_James_Trapp

And he should be given more than this season.

seymour bush

Pryor played about as poor a half as anyone has seen ever. Contrary to what most of you believe, He is not good enough to regress and still succeed. And most players at this level regress, once opponents find holes in their game. That is exactly what happened last game and frankly Pryor was not good enough to over come that. But all of you will blame it on the Oline, the WR’s, Greg Olson, Dennis Allen, the small playclock, the vendors selling Chief scarfs……

The_Civilian_James_Trapp

Cuz they didn’t take him. That still rattles them. After all, Denise had to defend Lucas Nix as a starter for Grimmace’s draft acumen. I personally think they don’t like Raider Nation

Davy Jones

“Nothing to do with the Oline, receivers, RBs, or TEs?” Sure QBs are the most important position by an order of magnitude, and we can make judgements about Pryor’s individual performance. But to say the lack of playmakers on O has “nothing to do with it” is crazy. Do you think Tom Brady’s suckiness this year has nothing to do with HIS lack of Oline, WRs, and TEs?

The_Civilian_James_Trapp

His OL is a fugging joke so thus there’s no running game or time to throw. If Grimmace is dumb enough to bench TP so he can sign another “my guy”. That “My guy” will get away from the focus to build an OL. It would be like the brain dead decision to dump Hue’s O for Knapp’s O x1,000…Luckily Mark will have a talk with these guys.

The_Civilian_James_Trapp

So Indy should’ve dumped Manning after a 3-13 season right?

The_Civilian_James_Trapp

His decision to install the ZBS totally fu**ed the progress of our OL. Not to mention that move led to us losing Satele(who was playing well for us) and signing Briesel. Epic fail.